All of life is a journey

My dearest Van -

You were my first. My introduction to motherhood. My love at first sight and heart grown larger than imaginable. My first living babydoll. Those first nine months, in Ann Arbor Michigan and then in Branford Connecticut - it was mostly just me and you.

All the hopes and dreams I had for you - not a one has come undone by the path you are on. Know that.

They were these;

- that you would feel loved by me
- that you would understand I will do anything for you
- that you would know you can always turn to me, you can tell me anything, you can rely on me
- that if you were in trouble or hurt or in need, that you would call on me
- that you would know I respect you as an individual

I knew the rest you would make up as you go, as you needed to, with my blessing and my support.

My parenting philosophy, taken from the poet/philosopher Kahil Gibran;

On Children;

     Your children are not your children.
      They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
      They come through you but not from you,
      And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
      You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
      For they have their own thoughts.
      You may house their bodies but not their souls,
      For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
      You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
      For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
      You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
      The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
      Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
      For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.